Experience Driven Communication.

Demo

Experience Driven Communication.

Demo
Allcall agents practicing rebuttals

Training Is Not Enough Part 3: Practice

Without practice, training is wasted. As we reported in part one, the industry’s new car dealerships spend over a billion dollars a year on training. But only about 25% of training programs produce measurable improvement-like more profit. A good part of that is spent on sales training, yet there is a 67% turnover rate in sales positions, excluding managers and GMs, where the turnover is much lower, at about 16%. 
With only a 25% take rate, it is obvious that training is not enough. It takes practice to create measurable, positive results from the training. 
There are countless ways to practice, and they are just about all free! Besides the time invested, there are nominal expenses from practicing, if any. 

So how do we recoup 75% of those wasted training dollars? The first step is simply to begin, even if it’s in tiny increments.

Well begun is half done – Aristotle.

In a LinkedIn post last year, Todd Smith did the math of training 15 minutes daily. It adds up to almost 100 hours (about 12 workdays) per year. Now think about how quickly last year went by and what the impact of 12, eight-hour days of practice would have done for you. That’s over two weeks of practicing.

 

Jennifer Suzuki talks about ten minutes a day and recommends you just focus on one skill or technique, practice for 10 minutes a day a few times and move on to another skill/technique.

 

Now multiply the number of employees you have times 12. That is how much practice your dealership could complete in a year.

 

We think we don’t have time, but we do.

 

Practice has many forms:

 

  • Solo – practicing a walk-around or rebuttals you use every day. Listening to your calls. Practicing your discovery questions and really focusing on mastering those skills.
  • With a partner – challenging each other with questions, making critiques and supplying feedback.
  • In a huddle – gather some team members for 10-15 minutes a day and practice.

  •  

However you choose to practice, here are our talking points about practice and why it is so important and beneficial.
  • Practice should be focused on a specific topic. Make practice deliberate and purposeful. Begin with the end in mind! Talking about the exact desired outcome and practice getting to that level. Your goal is always to reach the high side of the professional standards for the skill you are practicing. 
  • Nobody is above practicing! You see professionals at the highest-level practicing. Patrick Mahomes, Serena Williams, and Lebron James practice. If repetition is the mother of learning, then practice is essential. Perfect practice makes perfect. 
  • Praise progress. Any improvement has value even if it comes in small increments (like 10 minutes a day). Practice is learning. As you improve you learn how to execute the skill or technique the right way.
You may already be good at holding practice or have created a culture where practice is just what we do around here. 

If not, what will you choose to do about it? Doing nothing is a choice and wastes millions of dollars invested in training. 

Find what works for you and your company and go after it with determination. The benefits are priceless, and the cost is practically zero. 

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

Get a free evaluation

Claim now!

Contact our MysteryConcierge for a free mystery shop of your store to analyze how leads are handled.